BIO

Master of Arts, Social Documentation

University of California, Santa Cruz

Bachelor of Arts, Asian American Studies, Summa Cum Laude

University of California, Los Angeles

Best Documentary Short – RiverRun Film Festival, 2010

Gold Remi Award – WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival, 2010

Best Documentary Film, A Song For Ourselves - Pomona Valley Film Festival, 2010

Audience Choice Award, A Song For Ourselves - Pomona Valley Film Festival, 2010

Gold Kahuna Award, A Song For Ourselves – Honolulu Film Festival, 2010

Best Documentary Film, , A Song For Ourselves – Bronx Independent Film Festival, 2009

Best Documentary Short Film, A Song For Ourselves - Urbanworld Film Festival, 2009

Best Short Documentary, A Song For Ourselves - DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, 2009

Cine Golden Eagle Award, A Song For Ourselves – Documentary Short, Independent Division, 2009

Special Jury Award, A Song For Ourselves – San Diego Asian Film Festival, 2009

Best Short Film, A Song For Ourselves - Austin Asian American Film Festival, 2009

Honorable Mention, A Song For Ourselves – Columbus International Film + Video Festival, 2009

30 Most Influential Asian American Under 30, Angry Asian Man.com, 2009

Ebata Memorial Community Artist Award, 2009

CNN’s Young People Who Rock, 2008

Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival, Pilgrimage - Sundance Film Festival, 2008

Best Director, Pilgrimage - Show Off Your Shorts Film Festival, 2008

Best Documentary, Pilgrimage - Show Off Your Shorts Film Festival, 2008

Best Editor, Pilgrimage - Show Off Your Shorts Film Festival, 2008

Best Historical Short Film, Pilgrimage - FirstGlance Film Festival, 2008

New Directors / New Visions Award, Pilgrimage - Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2007

Best Documentary Short Jury Prize, Pilgrimage - Sacramento Film & Music Festival, 2007

Best Documentary Short, Pilgrimage - Asian Film Festival of Dallas, 2007

Best Student Film, Pilgrimage - Honolulu International Film Festival, 2007

Best Documentary Short Award, Yellow Brotherhood - San Diego Asian Film Festival, 2004

Chancellor’s Service Award - University of California, Los Angeles, June 2003

Yuri Kochiyama Award - University of California, Los Angeles, June 2003

Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, 2003

Golden Key Honor Society, 2002

National Society of Collegiate Scholars, 2000

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Tadashi Nakamura is a 30 year old, fourth-generation Japanese American and second-generation filmmaker. Besides carrying on his parents’ work – his mother is writer/producer Karen L. Ishizuka and his father is director Robert A. Nakamura – Nakamura seeks to tell his community’s history to a new generation.

Nakamura recently completed A SONG FOR OURSELVES, the third film of his trilogy on the early Asian American Movement. It is currently screening in festivals and colleges around the U.S. and Canada and has won twelve awards for film excellence including four for Best Documentary Short .The first film of the trilogy was Yellow Brotherhood (2003), a personal documentary about the meaning of friendship and community through a youth organization called Yellow Brotherhood, which was formed in the 1960s to help youth get off drugs. It won Best Documentary Short at the San Diego Asian Film Festival has been screened at film festivals, colleges, and community events across the nation. The second was Pilgrimage (2007), which tells the story of how an abandoned WWII concentration camp for Japanese Americans was transformed into a symbol of retrospection and solidarity for people of all nationalities in our post 9/11 world. Pilgrimage was one of the 83 short films out of 7,500 submissions selected for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and has garnered nine awards of excellence including five for Best Documentary Short. With A SONG FOR OURSELVES, he completes his homage to the importance of the early Asian American Movement and passes on its passion in the hopes of inspiring young people to continue to work - and sing - for social justice.